


Spiderboi shorts

by Youngsoul



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Poor Peter Parker, Sickfic, Suicide, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-04-26 11:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14401140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youngsoul/pseuds/Youngsoul
Summary: Shorts consisting of the relationship between Tony and Peter after Homecoming. Less Iron-dad and more Tony trying not to get too close for it to start hurting. But he does. Because it's Peter.Part 1: Peter leaves a voicemail asking if there is a "superhero doctor". But it's nothing, really. Tony makes sure.Part 2: Tony let's the news feed play in the background. Until he catches a name and has to watch Peter experience the thing he was fighting to avoid.Part 3: Peter gets a heatstroke while patrolling. Tony drops a call.(Written mostly for stress relief too quickly, so quality is as such. Might rewrite once I have time to breathe.)





	1. Superhero doctor

_“Heyy, uh, Peter here. All’s good in Queens – caught a shoplifter today, stopped a kid from getting hit by a car – these people should really teach responsible phone usage to kids – and what else…”_ Peter gave his usual report in the form of a voice message. The message was sent to Happy, as usual, which would usually get relayed forward to Tony. This time however, both men were present as Happy held the phone in his hand, letting the message play for them both.

_“ -oh! Remember that Churro-lady? Yeah, I saw her again today. She still remembered that I helped her out.”_

Tony raised his eyebrows at Happy. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

Happy rolled his eyes. “No, just hold on.” He gestured at the phone.

_“On a separate note… Um, you wouldn’t happen to know like uh… superhero doctor or anything like that? I mean, it’s nothing serious or anything like that. Just.. feeling a little under the weather and can’t really go to a regular doctor or they’d be pretty freaked out, maybe. Actually – it’s probably nothing. Just forget I said anything. Alright, bye!”_

The message cut off there.

Tony gave a slow nod. “Alright.”

Happy put his phone back in his pocket. “So, what do you want to do?”

Tony had already pulled his phone out and was about to make a call. He made circle motions with his hand, waving Happy out. “Just go get him. We’ll see what’s up with him.”

Happy didn’t argue, leaving the room and letting Tony call his medical experts to make time for an incoming spider-teen.

\--

Happy managed to pull a snotty, shivering mess out from the apartment of May and Peter Parker and put the teen in the backseat of the car. All the way Peter had been denying being ill and needing help and had almost refused going at all. Almost.

“The boss wants to see you.” It did the trick. Every time. As much as he would try to deny it, he still idolized Tony Stark too much to turn down his request.

So, there he was, leaning tiredly against the car door and fighting against whatever was making him so sick. Happy tried asking him how he was feeling, but Peter was already out by then, his exhaustion winning over the excitement that had kept him awake from the front door to the car.

It didn’t take too long to reach the Avengers base and Peter woke up when Happy opened the door and he slumped down to the man’s arms. Just, when he finally got a grip on himself to feel his spine again and pull himself up, it wasn’t Happy Peter saw there. It was Tony Stark himself.

He almost chocked when he tried to draw a breath. “M-Mister Stark!” he squeaked and tried to pull himself together, straightening himself so quickly that his head spun. He tried to blink and breathe away the dark that gathered at the edges of his vision and he noticed that there was a hand on his shoulders.

“Just take it easy there, kid,” Tony told Peter as he swayed in his seat. He pushed Peter back in his seat so he could release him from the seatbelt, holding onto Peter’s arm as he ushered him out of the car next.

Peter’s eyes were wide with excitement but has a glassy shine to them. It came to him as no surprise then when Peter’s legs gave up after taking two steps and so he had to hold him up. Be it a teen or not, his limp body was annoyingly difficult to support and so Tony just heaved Peter up into his arms, complementing his suitless strength in his head. He had to carry him only less than ten steps when a medical team already ran to them with a stretcher where he could put Peter down.

Peter groaned and hid his face with his arm. Tony worried that Peter was in pain before the teen grumbled, “You carried me… again.” Embarrassment then. He could live with that. Tony just tapped his shoulder and let him be wheeled off.

“Just get better, kid,” he told and watched Peter’s arm fall to his side. “Keep me updated,” he then told Happy and left to work on some new tech he was developing. It would help keep himself occupied when he knew there was little he could do.

After an hour and thirteen minutes he gave up. There had been no updates from Happy, which he did _not_ approve of – like seriously, did he need to specify that this was something he wanted at least hourly updates on? – so he decided to go check on the kid himself.

The halls felt too long suddenly, and the elevator ride didn’t go fast enough. He had time to think of the worst-case scenarios and before he reached the medical bay, he was positive the kid was already dead.

He thankfully found that he wasn’t. Peter was sleeping on a bed, looking relatively comfortable. His cheeks were still flushed with fever, but he wasn’t drowning in his sweat, shivering, or looking white as a sheet. Tony let out a breath he had been holding unconsciously.

“I was just going to send you a message. The kid is getting better. Just a violent case of a virus that has been going around. Apparently, his immune system went to overdrive. A guess there are some down sides to being half-spider,” Happy told Tony, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

Tony just nodded and gave a short hum.

Happy raised his brow, expecting something more from Tony. A joke or a stupid remark. None came, however, Tony’s eyes staying on the bed on the other side of the glass wall. “So uh, there _is_ that Hackles meeting in an hour…” Happy told, somehow already knowing the answer.

“Reschedule it.”

Happy couldn’t help but smirk, leaving Tony to have a moment or two with the kid.

But Tony didn’t go in. Not until the last nurse left for the station behind the corner and he could sneak in without anyone seeing. He wasn’t a fan of people seeing him _care_ for someone. Especially when they were okay.

Which Peter was, he reminded himself.

He just watched the steady rise and fall of Peter’s chest, nodding to himself after a moment. Peter was fine. There – proof. So, he could go now, right?

Something kept him there. Tony swirled his tongue around in his mouth, trying to understand why he felt like staying and trying to find a reason to go. There seemed to be no good reasons, suddenly.

So, he pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down. Far from the bed, obviously so he wouldn’t seem too caring if the kid woke up.

He moved a little closer after two minutes.

He tried to get comfortable but ended up tapping his foot against the ground impatiently. He stopped himself and decided that he was wasting his time. He didn’t even want the kid to wake up and seeing him there anyway. He got up and was about to leave when he heard Peter let out a strained breath and shifted in the bed. Tony ended up turning around. And walking to the bed.

Peter slowly opened his eyes. “Mister Stark?”

“Back to the land of the living, I see.”

“Uh-“ Peter looked around. “Where is this?”

Tony raised his eyebrow. “Funny that you wouldn’t know, considering you were the one asking for a “ _superhero doctor_ ”.”

Peter closed his eyes and let his head drop. “Yeah, uh, that was…”

“We prefer to call them doctors who specialize in the treatment of enhanced individuals. Or you know, “special doctors” for short,” Tony teased. “But you wouldn’t know that.”

“Sorry,” Peter apologized and looked ashamed.

“Feeling any better?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, a lot better.” He looked down at his arm where an IV was hooked.

“For hydration,” Tony explained.

“Yeah, I know.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

“Is it okay if I rest just a little more? I promise I’ll be out of here soon. I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Peter said, speaking too fast for someone healing from a serious illness.

Tony raised his hand. “Look, kid. As “super” as you claim to be, you need some time to heal from this, alright? You’re staying the night. Get some rest, watch some movies –“ Tony said and opened a big hologram screen above Peter’s bed, “- and I’ll send some snacks over. What do you like? Are you a popcorn or a candy type of guy?”

Peter’s eyes were wide with admiration again. As much as Tony did enjoy being idolized, it did tug an emotion somewhere deep inside him. He didn’t want to think about it too much.

“I uh… popcorn?” Peter told nervously. Tony nodded.

“Alright. Well, I’ll be going back now so you just consult FRIDAY on anything you need.”

“FRIDAY? That’s um-“

“I’m here to assist you with anything you need, Mister Parker,” FRIDAY’s voice chimed.

Peter looked startled for only a moment before that child-like glee shone through his tired eyes again. Tony couldn’t help but to smile at him – feeling a tinge of jealousy at Peter’s innocent wonder. Must be nice to be a kid. He turned to leave and was at the door when Peter’s voice stopped him.

“Mister Stark!” Tony turned to look at him. A genuine smile spread to Peter’s face. “Thank you.”

Tony nodded once and returned his smile. “Feel better, kid.”


	2. But bad things do happen to even the ones who fight to stop them from happening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2: Tony let's the news feed play in the background. Until he catches a name and has to watch Peter experience the thing he was fighting to avoid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Suicide

It passes by him first without him paying attention to it. Just sounds somewhere, non-important things that were narrated by that overly calm female voice.

He’s at his work station, arranging his tools back to their places and considering whether he should go on a ride for a change. Somewhere far, just him and some music. He then remembers that he has a speech to prepare for and a trip coming up he should be packing for. Maybe he can just leave it for-

The words “Spider-man” pass through his filter that had blocked out all the information flooding in through the speakers. He looks at the screen and sees a flash of red and blue, but the drone is filming from too far away to be able to distinguish the spider mark on Peter’s back Tony had put on the suit as a half-joke. Peter had appreciated it so much that Tony had almost felt ashamed about it at first. Now, everyone could recognize him as “Spider-man” due to it.

He turned his chair around and watched the boy do the impossible – catch a car that had collided and broken through the wall and been about to tip over the edge and hold it in place. Tony stood, clenching his teeth and fist as he watched the scene unfold. He knew where the bridge was. Whatever was going to happen, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. Nevertheless, he quickly punched in the coordinates and flew a suit out to head to the scene.

“Come on kid, you can do it…!” Tony told the screen, cheering Peter on. His heart was beating a mile a minute as he watched Peter trying his best to pull the car back on the bridge. Tony knew what the kid was capable of. He trusted him. He would be able to do this. Just, sometimes, things didn’t go as planned.

Peter had already done something that had saved so many lives that day. He had arrived on the scene when the truck had suddenly lost control and had tipped over, blocking three lanes of the four there were on the bridge. There could have been a lot more lives lost had he not stopped the cars that were unable to stop in time or cushioned their impact. He had done well, no one could deny that.

But even then, there were some things not even the most amazing people could do.

The webbing held steady and strong, just like Peter’s arms as he kept pulling. But the scared driver threw open the front door suddenly, attempting to get out. She panicked and although Tony knew Peter was screaming at her to stay in the car, she didn’t listen. She made a jump for it, but the bridge edge wasn’t stable enough, just like her footing wasn’t. She slipped. She fell.

Tony lunged at the screen when the car toppled over, Peter letting it go and jumping over the edge after the woman. Peter disappeared. So did the car.

The calm voice of the lady reading the news had turned more frantic at some point. Tony still didn’t listen to the words. He should have been quicker. Should have done better.

He checked and saw that his suit was 110 seconds away. He knew the fall wouldn’t be lethal for Peter. It would hurt like a bitch, sure. But not as much as –

Tony noticed something else on the screen. Something no one else was looking at. Police and paramedics were gathering at the scene, trying to help in any way they could. A figure went past the drone’s line of sight but something about it made Tony wonder.

“FRIDAY, pull up the live security feed of the incident,” Tony told and opened a separate screen next to the news feed. There, he could see everything better.

It was a young man he had seen. Tony kept his eyes on the young man, knowing there was something off about him.

The news feed suddenly showed a new angle of the incident, showing the side of the bridge where, unbelievably, Spider-Man was hanging on by a web with one hand and had used a web to catch the woman with his other hand. It was then that the tragedy struck. There was nothing any of them could have done, really.

Tony saw the young man standing at the edge of the now-broken bridge, not hesitating for even two seconds before he leapt off.

Peter was too far away and too occupied with the woman to be able to do anything to help. It happened too quickly, too unexpectedly.

Peter hung there helplessly for less than a minute when Tony’s suit finally reached him. Tony quickly took the woman back onto the bridge, leaving her to the paramedics before ordering the suit to take a dive.

He knew what he would find. The young man had died instantly upon impact. No possibility of resuscitation, FRIDAY informed. Tony flew the young man onto the shore, away from the public eye. It didn’t take long for the rescue boat to arrive, the solemn looks on the men’s faces showing too many experiences of these collection missions. Tony knew the look, compartmentalizing, and he knew he needed to leave it to them and focus on the things he could still do.

Peter still hung from the bridge in what Tony knew to be a state of shock. He grabbed the kid easily and knew that their task had finished. It was time for the superheroes to head home.

He told the suit to head to Queens, Peter dangling limply in its grip before deciding to change the direction.

Tony finally sat back down again, closing the news feed and the surveillance camera feed, only keeping the suit’s camera and mic on.

“You alright there, kid?” Of course he wasn’t. Tony knew that feeling. Of not being able to save someone.

Peter didn’t answer, his head hanging low. Was it not for the small chart of his vitals he had pulled up he would have thought Peter was unconscious.

“It appears that Mister Parker is experiencing a state of shock,” FRIDAY informed. Tony knew it already.

He was there when the suit landed. He held onto the kid when his legs gave up, walking him inside very slowly. Peter made no sound to even acknowledge Tony’s presence. Tony gave him his space.

He sat the kid down on the nearest couch, which just happened to be in his private quarters. It was truly that – private. Tony had furnished the room in a way that it was stylish and as lavish as it needed to be for a man like himself but had made it just have that little homely feeling. Soft lighting, soft carpet, fluffy pillows and those nice, warm, chocolaty wooden colors that just made one feel at ease. For moments like this.

He crouched down into Peter’s line of sight and knew that he needed to proceed with caution.

“I’m going to take the mask off now, alright? Don’t freak out.” Tony pulled the thing off with ease and put the mask down on the table. Finally, he could see the kid’s face properly and it was as good as could be expected. Lips held tightly together, eyes wide with horror and shock. Like he had just stopped in that moment he had seen the young man fall.

Tony took a deep breath and considered his words. “You did good today. Saved a lot of people.” It came out sincere and with a calm tone he hadn’t known he was capable of when he was feeling only slightly less freaked out than Peter.

It seemed to help Peter snap out of whatever state he was in and his eyes started to shine with the tears he had been holding back. His wild, lost eyes found Tony’s.

“I didn’t save him – he just – I just-!” his voice broke at the end of it, his eyes finding the carpet again as he hid his tears from Tony behind the curtain his short hair provided. He tried to collect himself, keep the tears at bay, keep himself from breaking. Tony knew that feeling well.

“You _couldn’t_ save him. There’s a difference. You did everything right today, kid.”

Peter didn’t move, just trying to breathe a single steady breath.

“That man - he did that to himself. Peter, kid, that guy was the reason that accident happened in the first place.”

Peter’s head turned slightly in his direction, but his eyes didn’t quite reach Tony’s.

“That guy jumped onto the road all of sudden. The truck avoided him, tipping over and causing all that chaos. Those people could have died today because of that man. But you saved them. And even though that guy survived all that, he still decided to go through with it. That was his choice. But you stopped anyone else from getting caught up in that decision. That’s more than enough.” Tony had checked the tapes before Peter had landed, his curiosity taking the best of him. He needed to know what had happened that had caused all of it.

“He still didn’t deserve to die,” Peter finally spoke.

“Maybe so. But it’s not on you.”

Peter looked unconvinced and Tony knew it would eat him up.

“Peter, we can’t save everyone.”

And finally, Peter’s eyes found his. “But _you_ do!”

His naïve conviction hurt Tony more than Peter would ever know.

“No, kid. I don’t.” Maybe it was the raw feelings that Peter was experiencing, but Tony found himself opening up all of sudden. “There’s a lot of people I haven’t been able to save. I’ve taken lives, by my own hands or with my creations. I’m not the hero you see me as.”

Peter looked lost.

“But you can be better than me, Peter. That’s why I gave you that suit. Because I believe that you can do better than I could.”

Peter looked down at his hands, covered in the suit Tony had specially made for him. The suit that helped him, guided him and protected him.

“Being a person with those powers doesn’t mean that you can save everyone. We can just keep doing our best and hope that our wins will be enough to help us sleep through the night.”

Tony opened the news feed up again, this time on mute. “Look up, Spider-Man.”

Peter slowly lifted his head and saw a crowd gathered at the other side of the bridge. People were hugging each other, reuniting with their friends and family and there were smiles and tears of relief everywhere. A girl was holding up a hastily drawn sign at the camera filming them and it said, “Thank you Spider-Man!”.

“This is what you did today. This is what you count.”

Peter’s eyes were transfixed on the screen, his eyes shining. Tony didn’t comment on the tear that fell down his cheek, or the breath that hitched.

He left the kid there to get him a glass of water and when he came back, the screen had closed, and the tears were gone.

Peter drank the water quickly and leaned against the back of the couch. He looked exhausted.

“Ready to head home?” Tony asked and received a slow nod.

Peter got up, picked up his mask, and Tony guided him towards the elevator.

“Mist- Tony,” Peter chose his words. “Thank you, for today.”

“It was all you, Peter.”

“I still think you’re a hero though.”

Tony snorted and pushed Peter into the elevator, staying behind. Peter managed a small smile, holding his hand on his chest.

“I mean… look at all the good things this suit has done.”

The elevator doors closed, and the words Peter left him had left a warm feeling behind.

Tony sat on the couch that Peter had occupied and reviewed the days footage, focusing on the joy that came after.

“It’s all you, kid,” he murmured and couldn’t help but smile at the people who were sending their thank-yous to their hero – Spider-Man.


	3. Heatwave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets a heatstroke while patrolling. Tony drops a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I visited Japan two weeks ago and got a minor heatstroke while having a kimono-rental day, which inspired this story. Also, Finland was the warmest place in Europe two days ago which never happens. So, here! Summer fun.

It was hot. Like, actual, hellish kind of hot instead of the usual hot they got during summer. No, this was definitely not that. This was a deep, humid heat that had settled over New York for days and would stay there for more days to come. It was the hottest summer ever recorded, the news had said, and Peter cursed the global warming for the thousandth time that year. People were dropping like flies with heatstrokes and other conditions due to the heat, which meant that as much as Peter would have just wanted to stay at home under the A/C, he had to do his part to help.

His usual duties as Spider-Man definitely didn't involve catching this many fainting people, but that was just going to have to be in his job description today. He would call an ambulance (with a quick, "Karen, again"), get the person to shade and try to find them something to drink. As much as he wanted to, his allowance just wasn't big enough for him to be buying everyone cold drinks to help them recover. Thankfully, his reputation as the "the friendly spider-guy" was starting to spread and most people were willing to help when he walked into a café or a store to find a bottle of water.

Despite trying his best to ignore it himself, Peter felt hot too. It didn't help that he had to keep moving constantly and that his suit didn't allow him to have any water with him. Speaking of the suit, Tony Stark had definitely put in every sort of feature in the suit, but while it did have a _heating_ system, it didn't have a _cooling_ system. So now what had been a nice, warm hi-tech suit that had covered his entire body during the winter, it was now a warm hi-tech suit that covered his entire body during the summer. In his defense, Tony _had_ made the suit so that it would be comfortable and the material very breathable and so far Peter had been completely fine with that. It just wasn't quite enough today.

He had kept telling himself that he needed to take a break every hour to drink some water because he sure didn't want to experience a heatstroke himself after watching so many succumb to it today. It did not look pleasant. However, he always dreaded going to the bathroom while he was patrolling because it would be one of the two things, either he needed to go change into Peter Parker again, or he had to sneak into some bathroom and hope he wouldn't be seen. He knew it shouldn't be a big deal since people knew that yes, there was actually a person underneath that suit, but Peter knew that being Spider-Man meant that there was a certain illusion involved with the suit. That being said, Peter had to admit to himself that he hadn't been drinking enough water during that day when he started to feel tired and dizzy.

He had just been about to take a break when his senses spiked, and a crash followed a second later. He looked back to see a car on the curb, its front dented from hitting the streetlight that was now partly _in_ the car. It took Peter less than 5 seconds to piece together what had happened when the driver opened the door and just slumped out on the ground, unconscious.

"Karen" Peter said and received a "calling 911" back from the A.I. It took a little time for Peter to get the situation sorted together with the emergency services as he ended up helping with the fallen streetlight and the car as well. He didn't even notice how bad he had gotten before he stood up from picking up the tire they had to remove earlier. It was an awful, dizzying feeling, but he fought through it so he could keep up the appearances. He thanked the police and flung himself to an alley he knew to be quiet before slumping onto an emergency staircase far from the ground. He knew he needed water. Quick. He wasn't exactly thirsty, but he felt drained and his brain was working too slowly. The dizziness was also a bad sign. He took a deep breath and wished that even a breeze would pass by to cool him down a little. No such luck. The shade helped slightly. Maybe.

"Your body temperature is reaching very high levels. I recommend hydrating yourself in no less than five minutes to avoid any further complications," Karen chimed in his ear. Peter nodded weakly. "Yeah, uh, you wouldn't know if there's any water nearby? Like, drinking water." Karen was quiet for a moment. "There's a park 3,5 miles from here equipped with a drinking fountain. Do you want me to direct you there?"

"3,5 miles," Peter sighed. It wasn't too far with his webs but right now he was doubting whether he could make it there. Also, there was the whole "Spider-Man public image" to think about. "Uh, what about my bag?"

"Your bag is 5 miles away."

"Huh, I went further than I thought," Peter realized. He focused on breathing and tried to imagine that swallowing his saliva would help to hydrate his boiling body enough so he could get back to his bag, or anywhere for that matter.

"Do you require assistance?"

"No! Or, kinda, but no! I mean…" Peter sighed. He didn't have any energy in him. For a second, he realized how horrible it would be if he was to suddenly pass out right there and the "kinda" just slipped out.

"You have an incoming call from Tony Stark."

That sure brought some clarity back to his brain. "Wha-! Mr.Stark!? Karen, don't answer, just uh, hold on!

"Connecting your call."

"No wait-"

"Mr. Parker, how are you doing?" Tony's face popped up in a small screen in front of him and Peter closed his mouth quickly. "-Not too good, judging by the stats from your suit," Tony answered his own question.

"I-I'm alright," Peter said and tried to make it convincing.

"I didn't think that you would need a lecture on heatstrokes with every broadcasting system blaring warning messages every five minutes. I thought you were a little smarter than this, Mr. Parker."

"I was just going to find some water now," Peter tried to defend himself.

"Well, I think you're going to have to hurry or I'm going to have to come and get you and I know you don't actually like to see yourself in the news being carried around like a princess."

Peter could just imagine Mr. Stark sitting in some comfortable chair, drinking some cold drink in a nice, cool room with a nice view. That was the only reason the man was able to keep babbling on like this. Peter had no energy to answer. He just wanted Tony to stop for a minute and let Peter go take care of himself.

Tony kept talking and Peter stood up. That's the last thing he was sure about. Next, he found himself laying down on the emergency stairs, his head spinning and feeling hotter than ever. It took him ages to realize he had passed out. Sounds were the first thing he could get a grip on.

"Kid? Peter? Can you hear me?"

He opened and closed his mouth and tried to move. His body wasn't really working with him.

"Shit, hold on, help is on the way."

Peter took deep breaths and tried to keep himself conscious. That was pretty much all he could manage. And it was all he needed to do anyway when, sure enough, help arrived. One of Tony's suits was there, holding him up and partly forcing some water from a bottle down his throat. Except when his eyes worked again, it wasn't a suit, but Tony Stark himself, the empty suit hovering above the ground behind him

"I'm sorry," was the first thing out of Peter's mouth and it came out sounding more like a reflex than anything else.

"The word's _"Thank you",_ kid," Tony told and Peter was trying to force his brain to keep up with everything that was going on.

"I think it's safe to say you've done your part for today. It's going to get cooler in an hour or so anyway."

Peter felt ashamed for having fainted for such a stupid reason as a heatstroke, especially when he had been the one helping people who had fainted for the same reason all day. He looked away from Tony and tried to ignore the fact that he had forced the man here on a dirty fire-escape to help a fifteen-year-old kid who had passed out. It was definitely not something that belonged in his job description.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Happens to the best of us."

Tony helped him drink some more water before ordering Peter to come with him to the compound so he could "get some proper hydration, an ice-cold shower and beauty-sleep" as Tony had dubbed it. Peter didn't actually argue against it much. Just a little to keep up appearances that he had any pride.

Once he had taken the shower, got dressed in some comfy loan-clothes and had an IV put in his arm, Peter was out. It felt like heaven after everything he had gone through that day. And to be honest, he felt way less embarrassed about it when Tony had stayed with him, telling him stories about the embarrassing "swoonings" of other Avengers, leaving himself out, of course.

It still came as a great surprise when Peter woke up and saw Tony still there in the room, apparently designing something with three screens open and a thoughtful look on his face. He just watched the man work in silence. The IV was out and Peter finally felt like himself again but couldn't find it in him to move just yet. It was already darker outside, and Peter knew it was getting late. Not quite his curfew, but it would be in a couple hours.

Tony's eyes met his and a smirk rose to his lips. "Planning on saying anything or were you just going to keep staring from afar? Is this your tactic with girls, too? I can tell you, it doesn't work. Not that I should be teaching you about dating anyway."

Peter laughed, feeling a little giddy suddenly. Tony had stayed there with him for hours while he had slept.

"Feeling better, then?" Tony asked, his smirk changing into something more sincere.

"Yeah, yeah, really good. Thanks."

Tony nodded. "Good, now, I've tweaked the suit a little, added a cooling system and whatnot. Should help keep you out of the med-bay for a few days at least."

Peter sat up quicker than he thought he could manage. "Seriously? Wow, thank you, Mr. Stark!"

Tony seemed pleased with his answer. "Well then, I'm going take a drive with my new car, so how about I get you home?"

"Are you serious!?"

"Offer expires in 3...2...1-"

Peter jumped off the bed, his legs steady and strong and head clear. "Yes! Yes, I'm coming!"

"Alright then," Tony said and picked up a familiar bag and threw it to Peter.

"When did you-?"

"The suit's inside, now come on." It wasn't exactly an answer, but Peter didn't really care. Tony had really thought about everything, even picking up his school bag from the alley where Peter had left it.

With the widest grin on his face, Peter ran after Tony to the garage to get the coolest ride home that he could sadly never gloat about at school.


End file.
